


Dolphin Falls

by Aliena (ChokolatteJedi)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dolphins & Whales, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-11
Updated: 2004-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-26 20:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/Aliena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A group of young dolphins comes of age</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dolphin Falls

**Author's Note:**

> Very early work, please forgive. :D

The bright noon sun shot three weak shafts of lights through the dense jungle that surrounded Tajen Falls. Mist speckled flowers and leaves in every color and shade barely stirred in the dry summer breeze. On the way to the Falls, they had flashed by in splotches of color, but now that we had stopped, I could appreciate the flowers and the cool air. The heat could never find its way this far into the heart of the forests of Rokitem.

Rokitem is an island, split by the Tajen River. In the middle of the river is Tajen Falls. The Falls can be avoided by a narrow stream that the calves can swim in easily. Every summer, all the calves who have seen three summers must jump the falls to become full pod members. This summer, the five Dolphins from my pod who had seen the same summers as I had would jump the falls with me. Poons, Sinjee, Tessi, Ceden, Moofer, and I, Chandy, waited at the top of the Falls for the ceremony to begin.

I dared to swim up close to the edge of the falls and look over the side. The Fall we jumped, the biggest, sort of broke in the middle and formed a little puddle not even a tail length before it continued down to the deep pool at the bottom. Around it flowed three smaller falls, barely suitable for jumping through, let alone jumping off them.

The pool below the falls always shifts from the falling waters, but this day something else rippled its surface. Many somethings. The rest of my pod, the Moonlight Dancers, gathered at the foot of the falls, awaiting the arrival of the Choca so the jumping could begin. The Choca is the oldest mother of all the pods that live in the underworld around Rokitem.

She comes to witness the jumping and to welcome the former calves to adulthood. She knows all the history of the Dolphins, taught to her by the old Choca from her youth. She teaches all calves the swimming songs about the history of the Dolphins. She will one day find a smart young dolphin apprentice and take her away to train her to be the new Choca. There have only ever been seven Dolphins who have failed the jump, according to the Choca.

The six of us gather at the top of the Falls, listening to the swimming songs our pod sings for us as they wait, starting with the Ancients song.

Dae, Kissy, Zamor, Kaile, Turgle, Atalana, Wakean,  
Akimee, Trisho, Diece, Retha, Guune, Titean  
The Mermaids’ Escort Pod they were  
With the royal nature of an Emperor  
Thirteen Dolphins brave and true  
Ruled the underworld they so well knew  
Exploring every crack and crevice  
Protecting others from the deep sea menace  
They sounded their songs throughout the sea  
Hoping all would live in harmony  
They sounded these songs to their young as well  
So that they would know it to retell  
So every generation of Dolphins that followed  
If they chose to listen to this ode  
Could protect the Underworld and Dolphins too  
And pass the song on down to you.

I check on Tessi again. She is afraid that she will fail the jump. Musow, who jumped two years ago, he spent a season with the WaveWalkers on the other side of Rokitem, and thinks he is just so smart. He keeps reminding Tessi of the seven who died. He sings their swimming song to her, sometimes adding her name to the end of the list.

Kigge, Oynas, Swun, Corso, Drilb, Reos, Andali, Tessi  
They failed the Falls and fled in infamy,  
So be you brave or weak of heart,  
At the Falls your life will end or start  
Take pride in yourself and your pod  
Like all of life it will be hard  
But stay strait and true to your task  
Don’t share the shame in which they bask  
Young Dolphin keep to your pod’s calling  
When through the air you go falling  
Brave the skies and the waters  
For a true Dolphin never falters.

Musow keeps saying that she will be the eighth Dolphin to fail. I keep telling her that if only seven have failed in the hundreds of generations since we started jumping, it is not likely that she will fail, especially since she is better than me at tail-walking and back flips. I keep telling her that this will be even less hard.

Of the seven who failed, six refused to jump and swam away in shame, never to be seen again. The other was so scared he died in midair. I find that very hard to believe, but that is what Tessi is afraid of. She thinks that she’ll die of fright halfway through or hit the bottom wrong and die. But flying through the air can’t be that bad. Flappers do it all the time, and they are just beaks and feathers.

“But they have wings,” Tessi says. “But none of the other Dolphins have wings and they do fine,” I say. “But those seven didn’t do fine,” she says. Then we start all over again. I keep telling her that she will be wonderful and she is in for a surprise when she finds out how fun flying must be. She still isn’t convinced.

The Choca has arrived and now the pod starts chanting the jumping song. The jumping song is from when manns played in the water with Dolphins. The manns lived on the island of Rokitem, not in the underworld with the Dolphins, because they could not swim as well as us. These manns would jump the Falls with the Dolphins, to show the manns leaders that they were no longer calves. The jumping song is in their words.

Transa ilay sancto  
Anthor carmi orten uun  
Ding sinn fjnt mel  
Transa onna mesor  
Kritasa ort uun  
Gorn togg ant uun  
Wendin sarn loosf ort uun  
Transa lob pent  
Vron krif lal  
Safrin Dolphin tonche

The pod sings it for each of us and we jump at the end. Sinjee went first. She leapt out and flew out into the air, moving almost a calf-length from the edge. She floated in the air for a second before she fell through the shimmering water droplets. It was beautiful. We heard a splash and the excited congratulations of the pod as they welcomed Sinjee.

The three males, Moofer, Poons, and Ceden went next. They all looked amazing surrounded by the clear air and water, hanging on nothing before they flew downward. Each of them made it and was welcomed by the pod and the Choca.

“Go for it, you’ll be fine.” I told Tessi after we the congratulations for Ceden died down. She started to protest again, so I shoved her with one flipper. She had to go, the song was starting. Once in motion, she kept going forward “Have fun!” I called as she approached the precipice. Tessi snorted expressively and then she had reached it. She hovered in midair with the most surprised look on her face before she fell.

I carefully swam closer to the edge as I heard a splash. A moment later, Tessi surfaced. She swam towards the Choca, who touched noses with her and smiled broadly. “Welcome to the Moonlight Dancers.” As the pod gathered around her, Tessi called up to me, “I did it Chandy! Just like you said I could! I didn’t fail! Take that Musow!” I smiled as I backed away from the rim.

The pod started singing again, this time for me. I took a deep breath and swam forward, pushed as much by the current as by my own flippers. I was almost to the edge when I remembered what I had told Tessi about tail-walking. I decided to try something special. As I felt my head slide out of the water, I pulled with all my strength. For one moment I was suspended motionless on my tail on the rim of the falls. I could see all the way to the river’s mouth.

Then, just before the water pushed my tail off the brink, I flipped outwards, diving through the air to the water so far below. The air pushed against me in a wonderful new way and I was a tiny bit sorry when I felt the cooling splash of water and slid into the pool below. This flying thing, it was fun! I can see now why flappers like to do it. I wanted to go right back and try it again, but I had to surface and meet the Choca.

Next to her were Moofer, Tessi, Poons, Sinjee, and Ceden. Tessi had the best look on her face, like she’d just seen one of the legendary leviathans who were said to roam the deepest darkest parts of the underworld. She looked so freaked out, I almost laughed, but I had to be serious when I greeted the Choca. She had an odd look in her eyes, like she had found something she had been searching for.

“An interesting maneuver Chandy,” She said in a well aged voice, “Yes, I think you will be perfect.” She looked at the others in my pod, who had surrounded us, waiting to congratulate me. Tessi and the others had flowed back into the group. The Choca uttered the words I had longed to hear since my first season, “Welcome to the Moonlight Dancers.” We touched noses and then the rest of the pod gathered around me. I was filled with an elation I had never felt before.

Then the Choca was nosing her way through the circle towards me. As the others fell silent, I looked around in confusion. The Jumping was over, there was nothing left for her to do. She faced me and then spoke words I never expected to hear. “Come with me Chandy, my apprentice.”


End file.
